Marbled Wood-Quail
Odontophorus gujanensis
Plump chickenlike bird, stout bill, brown overall with diagnostic red skin around the eye. Grayer on nape with some fine buffy markings on the rest of the body. Found in small flocks, always on the ground, foraging through leaf litter in the forest. More often heard than seen: listen for the low rich rolling calls, often given by multiple birds at once.
Identification
Adult marbled wood quails grow to a length of between 23 and 29 cm (9 and 11 in). The bill is stout and dark-coloured and the legs and feet are bluish-grey. The iris of the eye is brown and there is orange or red bare skin around the eye. The sexes are similar in appearance; the front of the crown and cheeks are reddish-brown and the dark brown, vermiculated feathers on the crown are ruffled to form a short, loose crest. The mantle and neck are greyish-brown, the back and wings are brown with black vermiculations and the rump and upper-tail coverts are indistinctly spotted with paler colour. The underparts are drab brown with some indistinct barring in buff and darker brown. Juvenile birds are similar in appearance to the adults but have reddish-orange bills and non-vermiculated, reddish-brown crests.
Taxonomy
The marbled wood quail was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the other quail like birds in the genus Tetrao and coined the binomial name Tetrao gujanensis. Gmelin based his description on the Comte de Buffon's "Le Tocro ou Perdrix de la Guyane" and John Latham's "Guiana partridge". The marbled wood quail is now placed with around 14 other species in the genus Odontophorus that was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot. The genus name Odontophorus is from Ancient Greek meaning "bearing teeth", from odous "tooth" and pherō "to carry". The specific epithet gujanensis means "from the Guianas".<p>Eight subspecies are recognised:
- Scientific name
- Odontophorus gujanensis
- Authority
- (Gmelin, JF, 1789)
- Order
- Galliformes
- Family
- Odontophoridae
- Genus
- Odontophorus
Range and habitat
The marbled wood quail has an extensive distribution in Central America and the northern part of South America. Its range extends from Costa Rica and Panama, where it is feared extinct, to Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, the Guianas and Brazil. It is a ground-dwelling bird, inhabiting the undergrowth in lowland rainforests and cloud forests, occurring at elevations of up to 900 m (3,000 ft) in Ecuador, 1,500 m (4,900 ft) in Colombia and 1,500 m (4,900 ft) in Venezuela.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The marbled wood quail is an elusive bird, moving about in the undergrowth and seldom seen, but its distinctive calls can often be heard, particularly at dawn and dusk. It sometimes emerges into the open but stays close to fallen trees or scrub to facilitate an easy retreat. On disturbance, it tends to move away quietly on foot, but will burst into flight if necessary. It usually occurs in small groups that move in single file, foraging through the leaf litter for invertebrates and fallen fruits. Nests are sometimes found at the foot of a tree, with about four white eggs, sometimes spotted with brown, in a shallow scrape concealed under a roof of dead leaves; the breeding season varies with locality.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Blue-throated Goldentail
Chlorestes eliciae
Uncommon and local, rather small hummingbird of humid forest edge, plantations, and woodlands in tropical lowlands and foothills. Perches and feeds mainly at middle to upper levels in shady understory and at edges. Note the bright red bill and greenish-gold tail (which often looks grayish). Male has violet gorget. Female has violet throat spotting, but often these areas look rather dull and grayish unless they catch the light.
Bangwa Warbler
Bradypterus bangwaensis
A bright rusty-cinnamon warbler with a long and graduated tail, a slightly darker face, and a pale throat and belly. Juvenile is duller than adult, with yellowish underparts. Resident, restricted to a few highland areas in southeast Nigeria and northwest Cameroon, where pairs creep around mouse-like in thick undergrowth and tangles in montane forest and scrub between 1600 and 3000 meters of elevation. Frequently detected and identified by its song, an insistent rollicking “chee-lip” delivered 3–4 times a second for 10 seconds at a time, getting progressively louder. It also has a strident alarm call “krrr.” The similar Evergreen Forest Warbler differs from Bangwa in its duller underparts and different song.
Yellow-shouldered Grosbeak
Parkerthraustes humeralis
Distinctive large-billed tanager. Gray below, yellow-green above, with a gray head, black mask, thick bill, and red eye. Appears big-headed. From underneath, looks mostly gray, though its upperparts are quite brightly colored. Forages in the canopy of tall mature and secondary forest, particularly in upland areas. Often joins mixed-species flocks with tanagers. Calls include high “seet” notes and a high, bi-syllabic “tsi-lit”; its song is a series of high whistled notes interspersed with electric buzzes.
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